Refrigerant container



Aug. 26, 1941 c. D. BCNSALL REFRIGERANT CONTAINER Filed Dec. 8, 1938 0000000 OOOOO OOOOOOO OQOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOQOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO .oooooooooooooooo \& OOOOOOOOOOOO ?-O Inventor- L'harles DBansaZl tator cars of'the overheadbunker type.

Patented Aug. 26, 1941 Charles .D. Bonsall, Pittsburgh, Pa assignor to Standard Railway Refrigerator Company, New

Kensington, Pa -a corporation of Delaware Application December 8, 1938, .Serial No. 244,541

Claims.

This invention'relates to refrigerator cars used .to transportperishable commodities at -a predetermined temperature. The essential features of :such a car are an insulated structure and a refrigerating means for use in warmweather .or a'heating means for use in cold weather.

The inventionrelates particularly to refriger- Cars of this type have the refrigerant containers suspended immediately below the roof. They are .often provided with drip pans below the containers to form refrigerant compartments below the roof and adjacent the side wallsof the car.

'Itis also common to provide vertical flues associated with theside walls and extending to near the hour. These fiues serve as passages for the flow of refrigerated air from therefrigerantcompartment to below the floor racks of the car so that it may circulate upwardly through the lading. The iiues also serve to drain off melted refrigerant when a foraminous or semi-foraminous container is used or condensation from the container when liquid-retaining tanls are used.

The principal object of the invention is to prevent the surging and splashing of refrigerant within the containers due to service movements of the car. The refrigerant usually used in refrigerator cars consists of a frozen liquid which melts upon absorbing heat from ithe lading. In some types of cars all of the liquid is retained while in others, only a portion is retained and the remainder allowed to spill through a foraminous upper portion of the container. In either case, the refrigerant usually comprises a mixture of liquid and solid which may have very harmful effects as it surges from side to side and from end to end of the container.

The surging may cause liquid and even solid refrigerant to splash out of the container upon parts of the car not intended to be moist. For example, the efliciency ofthe insulation could be greatly decreased by the presence of moisture therein. The deterioration of wood parts would be accelerated while metal parts would be rapidly corroded, particularly if the refrigerant contains salt. The liquid might even fall upon the lading and cause damage thereto with a resultant financial loss. Another harmful effect would be the loss of refrigerant within the container with a consequent loss of refrigeration Another harmful effect of surging of refrigerant, particularly in containers positioned near the roof of thecar, is the rocking and swaying of the car in a direction transverse to the direc- .tion of motion .of the .car. It is difficult'to deter-- mine whether the surging of the refrigerant is the cause or the result of the swaying of the car but ;it;is likely that each contributes to the other Therefore, a retardation in the surging of the; refrigerant would probably be accompanied by less swaying action.

- Railway cars are often subjected to sudden starting and stopping which has a tendency to induce surging of the refrigerant. Effects of violent surging may be disastrous as, for 'example, overstraining of the containers and of the superstructure ;-of the car as well as loss of refrigerant. It is an object of this invention to retard, not only the transverse surging of the refrigerant,butsurging longitudinally of the car as=well-.

It is an object of this invention to provide means within the refrigerant containers to retard surg ngwof the refrigerant. A further object is to prevent surging crosswise of the car as would be caused by a swaying action, and lengthwise of the car due to sudden starting and stopping. It is a still further object of the invention to so position said means that it will not interfere with the loading of the refrigerant into the container.

Refrigerator cars are often built having refrigerant containers of which the lower portion is imperforate for retention of brine and the upper portion foraminous to facilitate air circulation. The swaying of the car and the surging of the liquid have a tendency to splash refrigerant out of the container through the foraminous pontion thereof. It is another object of the invention to provide means to retard or prevent the loss of refrigerant from the container with the consequent harmful efiects mentioned above.

Other advantages and objects of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description by referring to the drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a partial transverse section of a refrlgerator car embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the car on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

The usual parts of a refigerator car are shown in Figs, 1 and 2, such as, side plate 2, side sheathing 3, roof 4, running-board 5, ceiling 6, hatch frame 1 surrounding the hatch 8, center duct wall 9, drip pan l0, side lining ll, false wall l2 providing the flue l3, insulation l4, and refrigerant container I5. The container l 5 has a bottom "5 and upstanding side I! and end l8 walls. The bottom I6 and the lower portions I9 of the walls ll, is are imperforate while the upper portions 20 of the walls l1, l8 are foraminous, the foraminous portion being shown as perforated metallic plate although expanded metal or Wire screening would be equally suitable.

Substantially horizontal members 30 are secured to the containers l5, preferably to the side walls I! and end walls 18. The members 30 are preferably provided with depending flanges 3| which are secured to the walls l1, l8 so that the members 30 are substantially level with the lowermost edge of the foraminous portion 20. The members 30 have upstanding parts 32 which are spaced from the ioraminous portions 20 of the walls l1, I8. The members 30 are preferably provided adjacent the side walls I! and end walls l8.

The members 3% tend to prevent liquid in the container from splashing through the apertures 35 in the walls ll, 18 while the upstanding parts 32 retard the surging of the refrigerant which accompanies the sidewise swaying of the car and sudden starting or stopping.

The accompanying drawing illustrates the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In a refrigerator car having a refrigerant container below the roof, a channel within said container associated with one of the walls thereof and arranged so that the outer side of said channel comprises a part of said wall, said part of said container Wall being foraminous and the remainder of said channel being substantially imperforate.

2. In a refrigerator car having a refrigerant container below the roof, a channel within said container associated with one of the walls thereof and arranged so that the outer side of said channel comprises a part of said wall, said channel being formed by a Z-member having the web horizontal and the depending flange secured to said container wall, said part of said container wall being foraminous and the remainder of said channel being substantially imperforate.

3. In a refrigerator car having a roof, a relatively shallow refrigerant container positioned below said roof and comprising a bottom and spaced apart walls, a member within said container comprising an upstanding part disposed in spaced relation to one of said walls, and an imperforate laterally extending part in spaced relation to said bottom arranged to secured said upstanding part to said last mentioned wall, the portion of said last mentioned wall above said laterally extending part and opposite said upstanding part being perforated.

4. In a refrigerator car having a roof and a relatively shallow refrigerant container positioned below said roof and comprising a bottom and spaced apart walls, an annular angle shape member comprising horizontal and vertical legs, said horizontal leg extending inwardly from said walls in spaced relation to said bottom and said vertical leg extending upwardly from said horizontal member 'in spaced relation to said walls, the parts of said walls above said horizontal leg and opposite said vertical leg being fo-raminous.

5. In a refrigerator car having a refrigerant container below the roof, a channel associated With one of the Walls of the container and arranged so that one side of said channel comprises a part of said Wall, said part of said container wall being foraminous and the remainder of said channel being substantially imperforate.

CHARLES D. BONSALL. 

